i have been called to serve a mission for the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints for eighteen months in the nicaragua managua south mission. my family has agreed to post my weekly emails here, as well as any comments or posts they wish to add.

Monday, July 27, 2015

el 6 de Julio

this week was a very humbling one. we have a set of
standards that we are expected to complete, and one of the those is bringing six investigators to church. i don't want to sound proud, but sometimes i feel like we as missionaries here have a higher set of standards than the missionaries in the states. they have their own set of problems, i know, but looking through some of my other friends' emails, it makes me feel proud to be here in nicaragua working as hard as i do. this week was humbling because we only had two people at church. of the 25 people we normally have committed to come, i am used to bringing at least 6 (if not 8) people to church. we literally rang the bell to bring two. it was literally extremely humbling to realize that although we can work all week long, and we can fight to have them come, sunday morning and afternoon really is a magnifying glass underneath the sun. being rejected on the doorstep with taxi money in hand is very, very discouraging. especially because for some people, "next sunday" never comes.

my agenda this transfer has a picture of the temple on it, a

constant reminder that my work here in nicaragua isn't complete until these members enter into the temple and make their own temple covenants with the Lord. one sister here has been fighting to make it to the temple for over 15 years, and this august will be making the trip to costa rica to surprise her son and daughter-in-law, and go through the temple. it's so amazing to see the joy that she has, when she thinks of that goal that is almost here.

a big success was finally finding out what was keeping us from

shifting gears together. sorry for the metaphors this week, they

don't really translate very well into spanish sometimes... working

with some leaders, sister martinez and i worked through some

problems we were having, and now we are back at square one,

ready to leave the blocks together.

this week's scripture is found in both doctrine and covenants

15:4-6, and the following section (word for word) in 16:4-6...

::For many times you have desired of me to know that which

would be of the most worth unto you. Behold, blessed are you

for this thing, and for speaking my words which I have given

you according to my commandments. And now, behold, I say

unto you, that the thing which will be of the most worth unto

you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you

may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with

them in the kingdom of my Father. Amen.::

many times i have asked the lord what my purpose, why i am

here in this specific area, and this scripture gave me the comfort

to know that my purpose here is the same in every area,preach

the gospel of repentance to the lost and fallen sheep.

this week we are planning on focusing our studies on being
more and more unified, teaching with the power and authority of our holy calling.

and because it was the fourth of july, of course i had to wear

red, white and blue. and of course with the stars and stripes! one of my zone leaders is from LA, so he called me and wished me a happy independence day. the people here (this could sound bad) but didn't really care that it was any other day than a saturday. and that's okay with me. we will just have to have a grand party a couple days late next year!